Look Me Up!

From around the age of twelve until around forever, women are pressured to strive to fit the mold of the most desirable figure she can be.  We are told by our parents, our culture, our faiths, and our friends that you grow up, get married, and get a job.  Then, we are told by magazines, television, movies, music, and books how to do it all while looking fabulous.

In the fifth grade, it’s the Limited Too shirt that you must have, or you may as well be invisible.  In seventh it was the white Wet & Wild eyeliner that, for me, Amber Burnette was the only one cool enough to have.  Freshman year of high school the Limited Too wardrobe goes out the door, and the Express clothes that don’t fit you right because they’re made for working women, not 15 year-old girls with pimples; and the Forever 21 clothes that will either rip or go out of style in twelve days, come into play.  Then when you hit age seventeen, it’s a whirlwind of things. Now comes the materialistic mindset: ‘I need a fake Coach tote immediately’; we discover more than just white eyeliner and Lip Smackers lip balm and go onto eyeshadow, blushes, smudge pots, lip tints, waterproof mascara and, my favorite, body sparkle powder; and we believe the online pop-up ads about the new berries found in Africa that will help you lose fifty pounds in fifty minutes. 

Oh yes, I have cried until my mom bought me the Limited Two shirt with the phrase “Girl Talk” on it, borrowed Amber Burnette’s white eyeliner, spent money on Express tops to wear to Friday night local hangout Roller Kingdom, and went through an odd obsession with Stila makeup products.  I have done everything right.  So what happens when I have done and bought into everything that has been thrown at me, and I am a single twenty-something that has a lot of makeup and clothes?    

Online dating.

I literally cannot turn on the television or radio or log onto the internet without hearing or reading about some sob story about two people who couldn’t find love until they joined eHarmony or match dot com.  What happened to the romance of meeting your “perfect match”, at work, at college, or bumping into them on the street, seeing a childhood friend after years and years and knowing that they’re the one?  Just as quick as the media and Hollywood made us into hopeless romantics, they are convincing us that we are doomed in love, and in turn life, and cannot live happily without the help of a computerized survey.

You see these commercials with these young, attractive, dare I say normal, people that while on the surface you’re feeling comforted that men and women like you also have trouble finding “love”; it is really making you feel worse about yourself for even thinking that you would need to be comforted about not having a husband at age twenty-three; as if it’s a terrible thing.

So are these hundreds of websites successful at what they do?  I am a single 20-year-old college student who has not even bought into the whole concept of marriage yet.  No, I am not a bra-burning feminist; but I do have goals that would indicate (unlike my clothing and makeup collection) that I have no desire to fit into a box that anyone decides for me, especially mass media.

I have an account on eHarmony.com and match.com. 

I can honestly say that there is nothing, not one detail of myself, on either of the accounts and that I have not looked at them since their creation (which I tell myself was a joke); but does that really matter?  They got me.  Regardless of the their intent, or mine for acting on it; I, yet again, bought into exactly what the media told me to do in order to fit the mold of a woman that I am not sure I ever want to be.

The Cell Phone

Cell phone (cellular telephone) noun.  A portable telephone that uses wireless cellular technology to send and receive phone signals. This technology works by dividing the Earth into small regions called cells. Within each cell the wireless telephone signal goes over its assigned bandwith to a cell tower, which relays the signal to a telephone switching network, connecting the user to the desired party.

April 3, 1973 marked the day of the first cellular phone to be introduced to mass culture by inventor, Dr. Martin Cooper.  The original intent to create this device was not fulfilled.  People could put in phone calls, business or casual, without being permanently attached to a wall, or being electrically shocked each time they wandered more than 20 feet away from the portable phone’s base.  You could climb a mountain, grocery shop, play baseball, take a joy ride, wash your car, all while talking on the phone.

SMS text messaging systems, introduced in the 1990s, were the beginning of the downfall to the dignity of cell phones, and that of every person who owned one.  Whether text messaging was initiated for convenience, humankind’s total inability to deal with direct confrontation, or perhaps an exercise to reduce cancer risk, I am unsure; but for some reason spending five minutes typing a conversation that could be said in two is much more desirable.

Now, cell phones, along with their tiny size, come equipped with cameras, games, music, email, navigation systems, texting and, oh-hey, you can call people too.

Someone could literally live in one room with nothing in it but a cell phone and have a pretty “fulfilling” (in current culture’s definition) life.  Sit in there with you IPhone, Blackberry Storm, Samsung Glyde or the LG Voyager and keep in touch with friends and family through word and picture texts (but definitely do not, just don’t call them).  Keep up with current events by visiting NewYorkTimes.com, or watch live news broadcast from NBC and ABC.  Bored?  Download a widget!  I hear that “Jumping Papi” is fun.  Hungry?  Just order from one of those grocery delivery stores – some say tha you can even save money; without having to drive and use up expensive gasoline.  Need to pay your life bill to Verizon?  Guess what?  You can do it on there too.

It is arguable whether inventor, Dr. Martin Cooper, was aware of the effects that the –then 30 ounce brick - would have on society.  Did he know that people would become more and more impatient, greedy, irresponsible, and  - alright I’ll say it – stupid?  Instead of 10—year-olds reading Anne of Green Gables we have them on plastic “text machines” with teenage phenomenon’s, Hannah Montana, face plastered on every square inch of the thing.  The invention has made it physically impossible for people to plan ahead.  Why would you want any sort of stability when you can cancel, change, and confirm it in three seconds at any time of the day?  And, if possible, it has sped up culture to a speed impossible to keep up with.

It is unimaginable to me what other additions could be made to the cell phone now, because it seems as if everything already has.  But given the pattern of this thought arising right before a new model of he IPhone comes out, which is practically every day, it’s most likely not a very substantial one.

Cell phone (way of life) noun. Instant gratification.

Word4: Type + Image

Calling all poets, illustrators, comic-readers, coffee-lovers, graffiti artists, appreciators, graphic designers, doodlers, and creators: have I got an exhibition for you.

In Columbia College Chicago’s 5^th annual exhibit, Word4: Type + Image, students of all disciplines and talents have collaborated to plaster the walls of local campus hangout, The Hokin Gallery, with a little something for everyone.

Although the Hokin Gallery isn’t your traditional gallery space, its squeaky hardwood floors, noise from the never-ending Wabash Avenue street construction, and the occasional whiff of someone’s Kentucky Fried Chicken; all add to the show’s raw and unpredictable aesthetic. 

With works ranging from “graffiti art”, to wonderfully graceful poetry, Word4: Type + Image, makes a successful attempt at establishing, recognizing, and celebrating the uncountable connections between art and the written word.

While some artists, such as Kyle Harter and Jennifer Hines take an urban edgy approach with their works “I am Happy With My Demographic” and “The Breaking Up Series”; others please the traditional conceptual thinkers with photographs, digital prints, and strict poetry; seen in Kenyatta Rogers’ “Jesus Hands”.  Walking around staring at walls not for you?  Stroll over to the freestanding wall, complete with crayons of all colors for viewers to make their mark on the exhibition…literally.

Word4: Type + Image is a great exhibition for any time, any mood, and any person.  Its collaborative, interactive, beautiful, and edgy components are a great tribute to the Columbia College Chicago culture and an escape into something greater than yourself.

Poets: come for the poetry; illustrators, graphic designers, and graffiti artists: come for the design; appreciators, doodlers, and coffee lovers: look around, draw on walls, and take a seat with a hot cup of Intelligista and soak up the diverse and talented community you have entered.

“Word4: Type + Image” is on display in the Hokin Gallery of 623 S. Wabash Avenue, Monday through Thursday 9am – 7pm, and Fridays 9am – 5pm until February 27, 2009.  Please visit the website for more information.

If Artists Ran The Media

In one of Columbia College Chicago’s newest exhibitions, If Artists Ran the Media, participating artists attempt to respond to the many unfair, partial, and under qualified news sources that our generation is bombarded with today. With pieces ranging from topics like the War on Terror to models in the media, the exhibition attempts to open viewers' eyes to the horrifying truths that we face today.

While the exhibition as a whole was respectable; I was not truly convinced. The atmosphere itself did not set the best tone for an exhibition whose goal is to challenge your mind. The multi-media artwork hung on dark drown walls, giving the room a careless feeling with no real overall appeal to draw any sort of an audience in. On the chance that someone were to enter the gallery, the main text is placed on a center pillar – showing no distinct start or end to the show. If your decision to turn right or left to begin your venture is affected at all by you being able to concentrate – then you may as well stay in place – because the static of the college’s student radio station will be buzzing annoyingly in the background.

When finally focusing on the artwork, I found the themes as choppy and distracting from one another as the room itself. Though there were some powerful pieces such as Eric Nowaki’s, spray paint on masking tape “Any Day Now”, and Mark Nelson’s “Liberty Tree”, a beautifully disturbing painting; there were some that were not ready to be hung on gallery walls, and others that completely contradicted the exhibition’s intent.

Jasper Jones’ “The Truth Filter” was both true, and misleading; much like the media he was responding to. When hearing title of the work, it is safe to assume that the artist’s intent is to filter out biases, and to show only truth. The video montage paired with audio clips of words by George W. Bush fully opposes that notion. The audio files are clearly cut and edited to manipulate the words that you hear President Bush saying. Though his original motives may still be questionable, Mr. Jones is using his own biases and ‘filters’ to impose his beliefs on an audience.

The art displayed in the exhibition was interesting, sparked a lot of thought, posed a myriad of questions and transmitted their individual intents and responses to them. Overall, however, the exhibition did not deliver the content that it claimed it would. Do I agree that the media outlets exposed today are somewhat slanted, yes. But instead of showing that biased and unfair media is immoral and against all ethical codes, the art inferred that those media outlets’ partial and unfair depiction of the news was damaging to our culture; but here’s ours. Artists’ inspirations and creativity spark from their individual experiences, morals, opinions, and self-identities; the idea of an objective piece of art is an oxy-moron in itself, and If Artists Ran the Media failed to convince me otherwise.

“If Artists Ran the Media” is on display from December 03, 2008 through February 20, 2009 at Columbia Colleges Chicago’s C33 Gallery located at 33 East Congress, Chicago, IL. Gallery hours are Monday to Thursday 9am – 7pm and Friday 9am – 5pm. Visit their website for more information.